Written By Gopal Krishna on Monday, September 16, 2013 | 2:16 AM

Note:National Green Tribunal (NGT) order of August 14, 2003
which put a stop to all illegal constructions in a 10-km radius of Okhla Bird
Sanctuary at the Okhla barrage over Yamuna River on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border
is applicable to the waste incineration based power plant of M/s Jindal Urban
Infrastructure Limited (JUIL), a company of M/s Jindal Saw Group Limited that
is facing bitter opposition from residents, environmental groups and waste
pickers of Delhi.

The plant is just 1.7-km away from the Okhla Bird Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is situated at the entrance of Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar
district of Uttar Pradesh. Migratory birds fly to the sanctuary from Tibet, Europe and Siberia in October and November to escape the extreme cold and harsh environment and get good nourishment. They usually leave around the middle of March when ambient temperatures start to rise above 30 - 35 deg C.

The plant is situated at a distance of less than 50-100
meters from the residential colonies. Toxic cocktail of ash emitting Jindal’s waste based power plant is inaptly sandwiched between the fragile eco sensitive zone and several vulnerable residential colonies, educational institutions and hospitals. This hazardous plant has an adverse
impact on a large number of transcontinental migratory birds that visit the
Okhla sanctuary. Their numbers have decreased over the years. Among nearly 319 species of birds found here, more
than 50% are migratory. An
area of 3.5 square kilometres on the river Yamuna was notified as a bird
sanctuary by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under the Wildlife Protection Act,
1972 in 1990. Okhla sanctuary has mammals like Neelghais,
Jackals, Mongooses, Rats & Mice along with reptiles like turtles,
tortoises, geckos, monitor lizards, garden lizards, rat snakes, vine
snakes, water snakes and also amphibians like toads and frogs.

Not only that there
is a large lake which lies sandwiched between Okhla village towards the west
and Gautam Budh Nagar towards the east, the impact of the plant on this water
source was not been disclosed in the Environment Impact Assessment report of
the plant. This plant does not have the required mandatory clearances from the
National Board for Wildlife. The sanctuary is approachable from Mathura Road
(NH-2), via Sarita Vihar going towards NOIDA.

The Uttar Pradesh government has said a waste-to-energy plant is
running within the 10-km eco-sensitive zone of the Okhla Bird Sanctuary
without the approval of the National Board for Wildlife (NBW).

In an affidavit before the National Green Tribunal, the UP government
has said that action can be taken for this violation. Its inspection
has found that the plant lies 2km from the sanctuary.

The plant falls in the Delhi government’s area of jurisdiction while the sanctuary lies in UP.

“The tribunal may pass an order through which the provisions of eco-sensitive zone can be invoked,” the affidavit said.

The plant burns waste to produce electricity at Sukhdev Vihar in
Okhla. The sanctuary is located where the Yamuna leaves Delhi and enters
UP. On May 8, 1990, the UP government declared 400 hectares of the land
as a bird sanctuary (protected area) though it hasn’t declared the
10-km area around the sanctuary an eco-sensitive zone.

But citing an SC order and frequent guidelines issued by the ministry
of environment and forests, it said, “It is absolutely clear that the
plant should have taken clearance from the NBW.” The plant does have
clearance from the forest ministry.

The UP government filed the affidavit after a group of residents from
Sukhdev Vihar filed an application and alleged that emissions from the
plant were hazardous for the sanctuary. Hearing an earlier application
filed by the same group, the tribunal on Tuesday had warned that the
plant can face closure if it did not improve pollution-control measures
in three weeks.

Both matters will be heard on October 10.

A committee formed by the UP government has advised the 1-km area
around the sanctuary be declared an eco-sensitive zone. The
recommendations will be placed before the UP cabinet before being sent
to the Centre .